Malawi

The Manaslu Circuit is one of the success stories of regeneration after the earthquake, with locals quick to repair bridges and trails. One of my abiding memories of the trek was the sheer number of bridges. For bridge lovers, this blog post is pure porn.

Last year was an unusual one for me. There were few real plans, and my travels ended up evolving out of necessity and opportunity, but I kind of liked it that way and I believe a combination of loose planning and going with the flow is the way forward in travel.

For several years now Christmas has been the time to renew my annual travel insurance with the British Mountaineering Council (BMC). This year I won’t be, and this post is all about why and where I’ll be shopping around.

Mountains that are rich in history have a special attraction, but finding out about them isn’t always easy. Many of the stories about Mulanje in Malawi are as hazy as the legendary mists that sweep across its upper reaches.

Not only does the Mulanje Massif in southern Malawi contain some of the loveliest trekking you will find anywhere, but to climb its highest point, 3002m Sapitwa Peak, involves a very unusual scramble indeed. Here’s my account of our ascent.

A couple of weeks ago I reported from Africa on my mission to find, measure, ascend and name the highest point in Zambia, and how identifying which peak to climb wasn’t as straightforward as you might think. This is the story of our quest.

You would think in this age of satellite mapping and websites like Google Earth the highest point in every country has been calculated by a machine, and you can just look it up somewhere. This isn’t the case, as I discovered when I tried to find the highest peak in Zambia.